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Library 

<  »F  THE 

University  of  NortK  Carolina 

This  book  was  presented  by  the  family  . 
of  the  late 

KEMP  PLITMMER  BATTLE,  '49 

President  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
from  1876  to  1 


^'d70.lUni1 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES 
OF  THE 


Johnston  Pettigrew  Chapter 


United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy 


IN  THE  HALL  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 


RALEIGH.  N.  C. 


BY 


rA,-fK»Vi'i-'' 


Jas.  C.  MacRae. 


JANUARY  NINETEENTH,  NINETEEN  SE^E^ 


DURHAM.  N.  C. 

Press  of  The  Seeman  Printbry. 

1907. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOmacr 


0^ 


An  Address  to  the  Johnston  Pettigrew  Chapter 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 


■Ladies  of  the  Johnston  Pettigrew  Chapter  United  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy : 

The  grateful  duty  you  bid  me  perform  is  one  wliich 
involves  the  portraiture  of  a  man  whose  character  presents 
no  blemish  to  mar  its  symmetry ;  whose  life  leaves  no  apology 
to  be  made  to  men  for  any  act  of  his  in  all  its  course;  whose 
example  serves  to  make  patriots  and  soldiers  and  gentlemen 
in  all  future  generations. 

In  the  range  of  biography,  when  one  looks  for  an  ensample 
of  pure  patriotism,  the  devotion  of  self  to  country,  the  seeker 
instinctively  turns  the  pages  until  he  comes  to  the  nam©  of 
Eobert  Lee. 

When  lecturers  in  War  Colleges  all  over  the  world  offer 
ideals  of  soldierly  accomplishment,  by  common  consent  the 
campaigns  of  General  Lee  afford  the  most  splendid  illustra- 
tions of  military  genius. 

The  writer,  the  lecturer,  the  preacher,  the  teacher,  each  in 
his  presentation  of  the  perfect  gentleman,  finds  his  culmina- 
tion in.  this  peerless  Chevalier,  who,  being  dead,  still  stands 
before  the  world  "without  fear  and  without  reproach." 

He  came  of  a  strain  of  knights  and  noblemen  who  followed 
William  the  Conqueror  from  the  continent,  enriching  the 
Anglo  Saxon  with  pure  Norman  blood.  Each  branch  of  the 
distinguished  family  which  bears  his  nam©  in  England 
claims  him  as  its  own.  He  was  born  in  the  halls  of  his 
fathers  at  Stratford,  in  old  Westmoreland,  out  of  whose  loins 
sprang  patriots,  warriors,  statesmen  like  Washington,  Madi- 
son, Monroe.    The  son  of  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee ;  Virginian 


[4  ] 

of  Virginians.  The  Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions  had 
not  ceased  to  sound  in  the  air.  As  he  grew  to  be  a  little  boy, 
in  that  formative  period  when  rough  edges  were  being 
smoothed,  he  must  have  heard  of  the  threats  from  Massachu- 
setts "to  prepare  for  a  separation,  amicably  if  they  can, 
violently  if  they  must."  He  must  have  heard  in  1814  of  the 
Hartford  Convention  of  Xew  England  States  in  which  was 
enunciated  the  undisputed  doctrine  of  the  riglit,  "Whenever 
it  shall  appear  that  the  causes  are  radical  and  permanent,  a 
separation  by  equitable  arrangement  will  be  preferable  to  an 
alliance  by  constraint  among  nominal  friends  but- real  ene- 
mies.'' 

A  few  years  later,  when  he  had  grown  up  to  young  man- 
hood and  was  being  educated  by  the  United  States  at  its 
Military  Academy,  there  was  put  in.  his  hands  a  text  book 
called  "Rawle  on  the  Constitution,"  prepared  by  a  learned 
Pennsylvania  lawyer,  in  which  was  taught  over  and  over 
again  the  right  of  secession  and  the  Ultimate  Sovereignty  of 
the  States.  How  could  he  have  felt  otherwise  then  than  that 
his  first  allegiance,  in  our  peculiar  system  of  Government, 
was  due  to  the  State  of  his  birth  and  domicile. 

The  material  from  which  to  draw  the  matter  of  an  address 
such  as  is  fitting  for  the  present  occasion  is  so  abundant  as 
to  offer  an  embarrassment  of  riches  to  him  who  undertakes 
to  condense  into  one  short  hour  the  record  of  the  greatest 
figure  of  his  Century.  There  is  no  room  for  comparison 
with  the  other  great  men  of  his  generation,  and  of  these  there 
are  not  a  few ;  for,  great  as  some  of  them  were,  it  cannot  be 
said  that  any  man  living  in  his  time  was  his  equal  in  all  the 
elements  which  illustrated  in  him  a  manhood,  perfect  in 
physical,  mental  and  moral  proportion.  And  the  wonder  of 
it  is  that  this  material  may  be  gathered  either  from  friend 
or  from  foe,  or  from  the  indifferent  observer  who  had  no 
concern  in  the  controversy  between  the  States.  If  every 
word,  spoken  or  written,  by  a  Confederate  were  blotted  out, 


[  5  ] 

we  could  find  all  that  is  necessary,  to  be  said  of  him  in  the 
testimony  of  the  enemies  of  his  Cause  and  Country ;  for  per- 
sonal enemies  he  had  none. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that,  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict, 
abuse  was  not  thrown  at  him  by  those  who  were  far  away 
from  what  they  call  now  the  ''firing  line,"  or  that  in  the  dark 
days  which  have  scarcely  cleared  up  before  the  light  of  truth, 
there  were  not  voices  heard  from  spirits  "invincible  in  peace, 
invisible  in  war,"  weakly  assailing  him  as  rebel  and  traitor ; 
but  we  may  pass  them  by  in  tlie  consensus  which  comes  from 
the  truly  great  of  that  day  and  this,  the  General  of  their 
Army,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  distinguished 
men  in  high  position  there,  proclaiming  him  a  gentleman 
without  a  stain,  a  soldier  without  a  fault. 

Or  if  every  word,  written  or  spoken,  about  him  on  either 
side  of  the  deadly  line  were  entirely  suppressed,  we  should 
still  have  enough  from  those  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United 
States,  commanders  of  armies,  teachers  of  the  art  of  war, 
great  writers,  poets  and  statesmen  to  mark  him  as  the  fore- 
most Captain  of  his  time. 

Our  minds  are  so  full  of  the  estimates  put  upon  him  by 
his  followers  and  friends,  whose  privilege  it  was  to  have 
seen  him  and  known  him,  that  we  need  scarce  quote  them 
among  ourselves ;  they  are,  I  may  safely  say,  as  familiar  to 
you  now  as  t]?e  tales  of  a  grandfather. 

It  is  given  to  this  generation,  at  the  end  of  the  century  in 
which  he  was  born,  to  see  and  talk  with  men  who  knew  Gen- 
eral Lee.    To  have  met  him  once  is  to  remember  him  forever. 

The  perfect  poise,  the  commanding  presence,  the  gentle 
dignity,  the  unfailing  courtesy  so  marked  the  man  that  he 
could  not  be  forgotten.  Talk  to  these  men  about  him  now 
while  you  have  the  opportunity. 

Some  years  ago  I  met  in  a  law  office  a  simple-minded,  one- 
armed  old  man,  troubled  about  some  small  matter  of  litiga- 
tion which  seemed  to  mean  a  great  deal  to  him.     It  was  not 


[  6  ] 

easy  to  make  him  understand,  and  the  lawyer  showed  some 
signs  of  impatience;  the  old  man  went  away,  saying  that  he 
would  come  again;  after  he  had  gone  I  asked  his  adviser  if 
he  knew  about  the  army  record  of  that  man;  he  said  he  did 
not,  and  I  told  him  that  little  old  man  was  one  of  the  men 
who  stood  that  fearful  day  in  the  bloody  angle,  took  General 
Lee's  horse  by  the  bridle,  called  out,  with  all  the  officers  and 
men,  "General  Lee  to  the  rear,"  then  made  that  memorable 
charge  which  drove  out  the  enemy  and  restored  our  lines. 

I  think  the  little  old  man  had  a  patient  hearing  the  next 
time  he  came,  and  I  think  he  had  an  enthusiastic  advocate 
when  his  case  came  up  in  court. 

I  know  a  man  who  was  badly  wounded  away  out  in  the 
front  on  the  line  of  the  sharp  shooters;  the  bullet  which 
entered  his  side,  paused  for  a  part  of  a  second  on  its  way  to 
take  off  the  thumb  of  his  Captain,  i^ot  very  long  ago  he 
was  suffering  from  something  like  lumbago  and  went  to  see 
a  physician;  the  doctor  felt  his  back,  took  out  his  lancet, 
made  an  incision  and  out  dropped  the  Minie  ball  which 
came  to  him  through  the  hand  of  his  friend  that  day  in  the 
Wilderness. 

These  gallant  men  knew  General  Lee ;  perhaps  if  you  could 
talk  with  them,  they  would  tell  you  about  him,  but  they  are 
not  the  kind  to  talk  about  themselves. 

Only  one  more — I  had  a  client  myself,  not  pnce,  but  sev- 
eral times.  He,  too,  was  a  simple  fellow  and  his  health  was 
bad,  but  these  revenue  men  would  not  let  him  alone;  they 
never  did  convict  him  though,  and  I  say  he  was  not  guilty. 
He  had  very  little  money,  but  he  showed  me  a  hole  in  his 
side  in  which  you  might  have  hidden  a  walnut.  He  had  seen 
General  Lee.     O  !  you  ought  to  know  these  men ! 

!N^ot  long  ago  I  asked  a  friend  of  this  generation,  a  man 
of  letters  aud  of  observation,  if  he  could  tell  me  of  a  fault 
in  the  character  of  General  Lee.  He  said  he  could,  at  ]east 
of  a  defect;  that  the  General  had  no  sense  of  humor. 


This  was  from  a  man  who  did  not  know  him  in  the  flesh, 
for  if  he  had  knowTi  him  he  would  have  found  in  him  a  rare 
and  gentle  humor,  as  rich  as  it  was  pure. 

Bishop  Peterkin,  of  West  Virginia,  who  was  then  serving 
on  the  staff  of  General  Pendleton,  the  Chief  of  Artillery  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and  had  opportunity  to  meet 
General  Lee  every  day,  said:  "There  was  in  him  a  most 
unusual  combination  of  dignity  and  geniality;  I  caimot 
imagine  anyone  taking  a  liberty  with  him  or  forgetting  for  a 
moment  his  high  position ;  but  no  one  was  more  sociable  and 
accessible  than  he  was.  He  was  full  of  humor,  so  that  one 
often  wonders  how  a  man  bearing  the  great  load  that  con- 
tinually rested  upon  him,  could  unbend  as  he  did,  always 
gracefully  yet  cordially." 

His  life  is  divided  into  three  distinct  epochs.  His  earlier 
years,  under  the  tutelage  of  a  mother  in  whom,  as  Fitz  Lee 
says,  "was  personified  all  the  gentle  and  sweet  traits  of  a 
noble  woman ;  her  whole  life  was  admirable  and  her  love  for 
her  children  beyond  all  other  thoughts.  To  her  watchful 
care  they  were  early  confided  by  the  long  absence  and  death 
of  her  distinguished  husband." 

This  lovely  gentlewoman  was  Annie  Hill  Carter  Lee,  of 
Shirley,  the  stately  colonial  residence  still  occupied  by  the 
Carters  on  James  River,  some  twenty  miles  below  Richmond. 

She  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Governor  Spotteswood,  who 
fought  under  Marlborough  at  Blenheim,  and  traced  direct 
descent  from  King  Robert,  the  Bruce,  of  Scotland. 

You  know  of  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  his  father,  who  bore 
such  a  distinguished  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  (in 
which  but  for  the  timely  aid  of  the  French  he,  too,  would 
have  been  a  rebel),  the  sad  circumstances  of  injuries  received 
by  him  in  defending  a  friend  from  the  assaults  of  a  mob ;  his 
vain  search  for  health  in  the  far  South;  his  mortal  illness 
which  compelled  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  returning  home 
to  put  into  port  on  the  coast  of  Georgia;  the  wide  arms  of 


[  8  ] 

his  "welcome  at  Dunginess,  the  home  of  his  old  Commander, 
General  i^athaniel  Greene;  his  restful  grave  among  the 
magnolias,  shrouded  by  the  trailing  gray  moss,  where  he 
awaits  the  final  resurrection. 

The  youngest  boy  was  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother.  The 
story  of  his  beautiful  devotion  to  his  mother  and  of  her  equal 
devotion  to  him  is  exquisitely  told  in  the  biographies  which 
bear  especially  upon  his  personal  life. 

In  1825  President  Jackson  appointed  him  a  cadet  at  the 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  and  from  this  time  he  was 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 

The  diligent  student,  graduating  number  two  in  a  class  of 
forty-six. 

Commissioned  in  the  corps  of  engineers,  the  highest  branch 
of  the  service. 

Engaged  in  all  the  most  important  work  in  this  depart- 
ment; coast  defences,  rivers  and  harbors,  boundaries  between 
States ;  stationed  at  Washington,  New  York,  St.  Louis,  Bal- 
timore. 

In  June,  1831,  he  married  Mary  Custis,  daughter  of 
George  Washington  Park  Custis,  the  grandson  of  Mrs. 
Washington,  the  mistress  of  Arlington. 

His  distinguished  career  as  Captain  of  Engineers  in  the 
Mexican  War  brought  from  General  Scott  the  most  unstinted 
praise;  he  said  that  his  own  success  in  Mexico  "was  largely 
due  to  the  skill,  valor  and  undoubted  courage  of  Robert  E. 
Lee;  that  he  was  the  greatest  military  genius  in  America, 
the  best  soldier  that  he  ever  saw  in  the  field,  and  (prophetic 
words ! )  that  if  opportunity  offered,  he  would  show  himself 
the  foremost  captain  of  his  time. 

Brevetted  successively  Major,  Lieutenant-Colonel  and 
Colonel,  he  returned  to  his  work  in  the  Engineer  Corps  in 
the  States,  but  was  soon  made  Superintendent  of  the  United 
States  Military  Academy. 

In  1855,  preferring  active  service  on  the  frontier,  he  was 
transferred    to   the    Cavalry,    as    Lieutenant-Colonel    under 


[  9  ] 

Albert   Sidney  Johnston,   and  later  became  Colonel  of  the 
First  Cavalry. 

This  rank  of  Colonel  was  comparatively  higher  than  that 
of  Brigadier-General  is  now,  for  then  there  were  only  about 
15,000  men  in.  the  army  and  five  Grenerals,  including  the 
Quartermaster-General,  who  at  that  time  was  Joseph  E. 
Johnston. 

Being  at  home  on  business  in  1859,  he  was  sent  to  sup- 
press the  John  Brown  raid  at  Harper's  Ferry.  He  returned 
to  Texas  and  was  on  Court  ]\Iartial  duty  until  February, 
1861,  when  he  was  re-called  to  Washington. 

I  have  endeavored  to  briefly  sketch  his  record  in  the 
United  States  army  that  you  may  see  by  what  ties  of  com- 
radery  he  w^as  bound  to  the  officers  of  the  old  army  who  were 
to  become  Generals  on  either  side  in  the  War  between  the 
States ; 

what  love  for  the  flag  under  which  he  had  so  long  and 
worthily  served ; 

what  knowledge  of  the  strength  and  resources  of  the 
national  government ; 

what  devotion  to  duty,  the  sublimest  word  to  him  in  lan- 
guage ; 

what  pain  and  regret  at  the  threatened  disruption  of  the 
Union ; 

what  splendid  ambition  might  have  induced  him  to  accept 
the  Command  of  the  United  States  Army  on  the  retirement 
of  General  Scott  from  active  service.         a 

Here  was  a  temptation  which  might  have  swept  some  men 
along. 

But,  "his  heart  wa*  fixed."  He  knew  his  duty  under  the 
Constitutions  of  Virginia  and  of  the  United  States. 

So,  when  the  alternative  was  presented  to  him,  to  remain 
in  the  old  army  and  take  command  and  to  draw  his  sword 
upon  Virginia ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  go  to  his  own,  the 
struggle  was  over,  the  temptation  was  gone. 

The  call  of  duty  and  the  instinct  of  inclination  bade  him 


[  10  ] 

saj,  as  he  said:  "With  all  my  devotion  to  the  Union,  and 
the  feeling  of  loyalty  and  duty  of  an  American  citizen,  I 
•have  not  been  able  to  make  up  my  mind  to  raise  my  hand 
against  my  relations,  my  children,  my  home." 

This  individual  action  of  his  was  the  action  of  his  State 
and  of  our  State  too ;  for  history  tells,  and  some  of  you 
remember,  the  struggle  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  for 
and  against  secession;  the  visits  of  the  Commissioners  from 
the  Confederate  States  to  our  Legislature;  the  Peace  Confer- 
ences, the  efforts  of  good  men,  north  and  south,  to  bring 
about  an  understanding  between  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment and  that  of  the  seven  seceded  States  of  the  Confederacy, 
and,  in  the  meantime,  pending  negotiations,  to  preserve  the 
status  quo: 

The  election  in  I^orth  Carolina  about  the  first  of  March 
in  which  the  call  of  a  convention  of  the  people  was  rejected 
and  a  great  majority  of  Union  men  elected  to  serve  in  case 
the  vote  should  have  been  in  favor  of  the  call. 

But  all  to  no  avail ;  in  the  midst  of  negotiations  the  attempt 
was  made  to  reinforce  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor  and, 
as  a  natural  consequence,  Sumpter  was  taken. 

The  reply  of  General  Lee  was  the  same  sentiment  which 
Governor  Ellis  uttered  when  the  Proclamation  of  President 
Lincoln  was  issued  calling  on  the  States  for  their  quota  of 
troops  for  immediate  service,  and  the  telegram  of  Secretary 
Simon  Cameron  called  for  two  regiments  from  l^orth  Caro- 
lina. "Your  disD|tch  is  received,  and,  if  genuine,  which  its 
extraordinary  character  leads  me  to  doubt,  I  have  to  say  in 
reply  that  I  regard  a  levy  of  troops  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
jugating the  States  of  the  South,  as  in  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  a  usurpation  of  powder. 

I  can  be  no  party  to  this  wicked  violation  of  the  laws  of 
the  country  and  to  this  war  upon  the  liberties  of  a  free 
people.     You  can  get  no  troops  from  l^orth  Carolina. 

John  W.  Eli.is, 
Governor  of  North  Carolina." 


[  11  ] 

It  was  this  call  for  troops  that  sent  Virginia  flying  out  of 
the  Union,  by  a  vote  of  her  Convention  on  the  17th  of  April. 

It  was  this  call  that  turned  the  people  of  ISTorth  Carolina, 
who  the  day  before  had  been  in  favor  of  the  Union,  into  the 
Southern  Confederacy. 

It  was  not,  then,  the  abstract  right  of  secession  or  even  of 
revolution,  so  strongly  enunciated  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  reserved  in.  the  Constitution. 

It  was  the  choice,  deliberately  placed  before  the  four 
States,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas, 
to  remain  in  the  union  aud  furnish  troops  to  fight  their  re- 
lations and  friends,  or  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Southern 
States. 

It  is  well  to  preserve  the  truths  of  history;  people  were 
beginning  to  forget  already  the  causes  of  the  secession  of 
these  States,  when  you  took  it  up.  The  men  will  help  you, 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  to  keep  pure  the  channels  of 
history  for  your  children. 

But  for  you  the  so-called  histories  to  be  read  in  schools 
might  soon  have  led  your  sons  and  daughters  into  grievous 
error  concerning  the  spirit  which  moved  the  fathers  to  stand 
for  the  Constitution  as  it  was  when  it  was  adopted. 

So,  the  first  period  in  the  life  of  General  Lee  was  brought 
to  a  close,  leaving  him  the  reputation  of  being  the  foremost 
soldier  in  the  United  States,  with  the  command  of  its  armies 
in  his  hand,  if  he  would  but  accept  it. 

The  proclamation  and  requisitions  for  troops  were  dated 
April  15,  1861. 

The  Virginia  Convention  passed  the  Ordinance  of  Seces- 
sion on  the  17th ;  General  Lee  resigned  on  the  20th. 

The  next  day  he  was  made  Major-General  of  the  Virginia 
forces  and  immediately  set  about  the  work  of  organization. 

Virginia  joined  the  Confederacy  and  the  Confederate  capi- 
tal was  established  in  Richmond  May  the  29th. 

All  Confederate  troops,  as  they  came  to  Richmond,  were 
placed  under  General  Lee. 


[  12  ] 

Some  of  you  were  already  in  Richmond  on  the  20th  of 
May  when  the  North  Carolina  ordinance  was  passed,  with 
this  State's  First  Regiment  of  Volunteers. 

Meantime  the  advance  guard  of  the  Army  of  Invasion 
had  on  May  the  24th  crossed  the  Potomac  and  established 
its  headquarters  in  the  stately  home  of  Mrs.  Lee,  at  Arling- 
ton. 

Passing  quickly  by  his  first  year's  service  with  the  Confed- 
eracy, which  was  that  of  inspection  and  organization,  the 
sending  forward  of  troops,  supervising  the  defences  furtlier 
south,  and  a  short  campaign  in  the  mountains  of  West  Vir- 
ginia ; 

He  was,  August  31,  1861,  appointed  a  full  General  with 
four  others,  in  order  of  their  rank  in  the  old  army. 

In  March,  1862,  he  was  made  Commander  of  the  Confed- 
erate Armies  and  Adviser  of  the  President,  with  headquar- 
ters at  Richmond. 

There  had  been  mucli  fighting  on  the  Peninsula,  at  Bull 
Run  and  Manassas  and  in  the  Valley  during  the  first  year 
of  the  war,  to  the  success  of  which  he  greatly  contributed  by 
his  dispositions  of  the  troops  which  had  been  poured  into 
Richmond  from  all  parts  of  the  Confederacy. 

With  the  early  spring  of  1862  came  McLellan's  change  of 
base,  a  habit  so  frequently  indulged  in  by  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac ;  the  slow  advance  from  Yorktown ;  the  staggering 
blow  at  Williamsburg;  and  the  Battle  of  Seven  Pines,  where 
Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  so  seriously  wounded  that  he 
was  taken  from  the  field,  G.  W.  Smith  taking  temporary 
command. 

The  greaii  career  of  General  Lee  began  on  June  1st,  1862, 
when  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of 
ISTortheni  Virginia,  with  every  movement  of  which,  even 
unto  the  end,  he  was  henceforward  absolutely  identified. 

So  serious  then  was  the  rebuff  given  by  Johnston  at  Seven 
Pines  that  nearly  a  month  elapsed  before  active  operations 
began  on  the  Chickahominy. 


[  13  ] 

Then  General  Lee  assumed  the  offensive  and  at  once 
astonished  the  military  world  with  his  strategy  and  grand 
tactics. 

Under  his  direction  Stonewall  Jackson  came  down  from 
the  Valley  after  the  most  astoimding  campaign  in  history. 
It  is  said  that  ''In  three  months  he  had  marched  600  miles, 
fought  four  pitched  battles,  seven  minor  engagements,  daily 
skirmishes,  defeated  four  armies,  captured  seven  pieces  of 
artillery,  10,000  stand  of  arms,  4,000  prisoners." 

The  splendid  conception  which  brought  this  "blazing 
meteor  of  battle,"  as  Fitz  Lee  called  him,  a  more  appropriate 
name  for  him  than  ''Stonewall"  which  he  had  earned  at 
Manassas. 

This  conception  was  that  of  General  Lee. 

At  the  same  time  he  sent  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  all  around  McLel- 
lan's  lines  for  his  information  and  for  much  of  his  supplies. 

His  great  campaign  opened  with  General  Order  Xo.  75, 
which  shows  the  absolute  precision  and  foresight  with  which 
it  all  was  planned. 

In  one  short  week  he  had  swept,  with  his  80,000  men, 
around  McLellan's  right  and  rear,  doubled  him  up  from 
Mechanicsville,  through  that  series  of  desperate  battles,  and 
landed  him  under  cover  of  the  gun  boats  on  James  River. 
He  had  raised  the  siege  of  Richmond ;  taken  52  pieces  of 
artillery;  35,000  stand  of  arms,  nearly  enough  to  put  in  the 
hands  of  the  army  of  I^orthern  Virginia  the  latest  pattern 
of  offensive  small  arms  fresh  from  the  factories  of  the  enemy. 
And  this  splendid  campaign  was  made  at  a  loss  of  about 
2,000  men  more  than  that  of  the  enemy,  18,000  men  to  their 
16,000,  Lee's  army  being  the  aggressors. 

And  McLellan  had  at  least  a  hundred  thousand  men. 

No  wonder  he  reported  to  Washington  that  Lee  had  200, 
000,  and  called  for  reinforcements. 

Next  he  destroyed  Pope's  army  at  Second  IManassas  and 
the  other  lesser  battles. 


[  14  ] 

The  advance  into  Maryland  (the  capture  of  Harper's 
Ferry  with  its  12,000  men  as  a  side  issue)  ;  the  heroic  fight 
of  our  own  D.  H.  Hill  with  only  5,000  men  against  the  ad- 
vanced guard  of  McLellan,  holding  the  gap  at  Boonsboro  all 
day  long;  the  tremendous  battle  at  Sharpsburg  against  odds 
of  at  least  three  to  one,  and  the  leisurely  rel^urn  to  Virginia. 

General  Early  said:  ''Some  persons  have  been  disposed  to 
regard  this  campaign  into  Maryland  as  a  failure,  but  such 
was  not  the  case.     It  is  true  that  we  had  failed  to  raise 

Maryland,  but  it  was  from  no  disaster  to  our  arms 

When  General  Lee  assumed  the  command  of  the  Army  at 
Richmond,  a  besieging  army  of  immense  size  and  resources 
was  in  sight  of  the  spires  of  the  Confederate  Capital;  all 
northern  Virginia  was  in  possession  of  the  enemy ;  the  valley 
overrun,  except  when  Jackson's  vigorous  and  rapid  blows 
sent  the  marauders  staggering  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac 
for  a  brief  interval;  and  northwestern  Virginia,  including 
the  Kanawha  Valley,  was  subjugated  and  in  the  firm  gi-asp 
of  the  enemy.  By  General  Lee's  bold  strategy  and  rapid, 
heavy  blows,  the  capital  had  been  relieved,  the  besieging 
army  driven  out  of  the  State,  the  enemy's  capital  threatened, 
his  country  invaded ;  northern  Virginia  and  the  Valley 
cleared  of  the  enemy,  the  enemy's  troops  from  northwestern 
Virginia  and  the  Kanawha  Valley  had  been  dra^^m  thence 
for  the  defense  of  his  own  capital ;  a  Confederate  force  had 
penetrated  to  Charleston-Kanawha ;  our  whole  army  was 
supplied  with  the  improved  firearms  in  the  place  of  the  old 
smooth  bore  musket;  most  of  our  inferior  field  artillery 
replaced  by  the  enemy's  improved  guns ;  and,  in  addition  to 
our  very  large  captures  of  prisoners  and  munitions  of  war 
elsewhere,  the  direct  result  of  the  march  across  the  Potomac 
was  the  capture  of  11,000  prisoners,  73  pieces  of  artillery, 
13,000  stand  of  excellent  small  arms,  and  immense  stores  at 
Harper's  Ferry. 


[  15  ] 

And  at  the  close  of  the  cainpaigD,  the  Confederate  com- 
mander stood  pvoudly  defiant  on  the  extreme  northern  bor- 
der of  the  Confederacy,  while  his  opponent  had  had  'his  base' 
removed  to  the  northern  bank  of  the  Potomac  at  a  point  more 
than  175  miles  from  the  Confederate  capital  in  a  straight 
line." 

The  disparity  in  forces  was  about  60,000  to  160,000  men. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  know^  something  of  the  nationality 
of  these  people  whom  our  nearly  exclusive  Anglo  Saxon 
Army  was  fighting.  In  Howard's  Corps  were  Devins,  Schim- 
melfennig,  Schurtz,  Steinwehr  and  Krysancerski's  troops. 

Within  the  first  year  of  Lee's  command  was  fought  the 
great  battle  of  Fredericksburg  where  Burnside,  obeying  the 
order  of  the  "fireside  generals"  at  Washington,  threw  his 
magnificent  army,  too  many  to  be  maneuvered,  across  the 
river  and  into  the  Valley  of  Death. 

Soon  after.  Hooker  essayed  the  task  and  met  with  a  similar 
fate  at  Chancellorsville. 

This  victory  was  had  at  the  greatest  loss  to  the  Confed- 
eracy, for  there  Jackson  fell. 

Plow  shall  we  speak  of  the  Gettysburg  campaign !  So 
perfectly  planned  ;  so  splendidly  begun  ! 

The  Army  of  Il^orthern  Virginia  had  become  an  army  of 
young  veterans,  perfect  in  discipline,  full  of  courage  and 
elan,  led  by  as  fine  a  set  of  generals  and  subalterns  as  ever 
manned  an  army;  enthusiastic,  eager,  compact,  strong,  and 
apparently  invincible. 

And  but  for  the  loss  of  Jackson,  they  were  invincible ! 

"But  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought  against  them." 

To  call  the  names  of  those  knights  and  gentlemen  would 
even  now  start  afresh  passionate  tears  over  the  untimely  fate 
of  the  brave  and  gallant  sons  of  the  South.  Let  us  leave 
them  to  the  glory  they  have  painted  Avith  their  good  red  blood 
in  the  farthest  advance  high  up  on  the  slopes  of  Death. 


[16  ] 

"Under   the   summer   sod 
Still  shall  they  sleep, 
Called  to  thy  peace,  oh  God,     * 
Tranquil  and  deep; 
"Naught   may   disturb   their   rest, 
Mansioned   among   the    Blest, 
Them    shall    the    Shepherd's    breast 
Tenderly    keep." 

He  remained  for  24  hours  on  the  field,  and  it  was  a 
week  before  he  recrossed  the  Potomac. 

Dr.  Henry  E.  Shepherd,  that  accomplished  scholar,  a  son 
of  Cumberland  in  North  Carolina,  a  soldier,  from  Bethel  to 
Appomattox,  in  every  great  battle  under  Greneral  Lee,  says 
in  his  elegant  ''Life  of  Robert  E,  Lee :" 

"It  is  the  g-reatest  of  errors  to  assume  that  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  virtually  determined  the  fate  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  nature  of  the  campaign  inaugurated  by  Gen. 

Grant  in  May,  iC  't;  the  enormous  magnitude  of  the  prepara- 
tions made  by  the  Federal  Government;  the  suspension  of 
the  cartel  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  so  that  every  Con- 
federate prisoner  might  be  retained  indefinitely  and  kept 
from  service  in  the  field ;  all  demonstrate  beyond  question 
that  the  enemy  himself  was  aware  that  the  cause  of  the  Con- 
federacy, so  far  from  being  hopeless  after  her  disaster  at 
Gettysburg,  was  thrilling  with  energy  and  inspired  by  most 
reasonable  expectation  of  ultimate  success. 

"Assuredly  the  earlier  stages  of  the  campaign  in  every 
point  justified  this  confidence,  for  never  in  the  chronicles  of 
war  have  more  amazing  results  been  achieved  than  by  Lee's 
inferior  force  against  the  overwhelming  array  of  Grant." 

So  it  was  that  when  the  flowers  began  to  bloom  in  the 
spring  of  18B4,  there  was  General  Lee  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rappahannock  and  the  Rapidan  at  the  head  of  60,000  men. 

The  wounded  had  returned ;  the  ranks  had  been  filled  for 
the  last  time;  General  Meade  having  taken  his  place  with 
McDowell  and  McLellan  and  Pope  and  Burnside  and 
Hooker,  each  of  whom  had  failed  to  mardh  from  Washing- 


[  17  ] 

ton  to  Rickmond  in  the  face  of  General  Lee;  the  Titanic 
struggle  was  renewed.  General  Grant  took  the  offensive 
with  an  unlimited  supply  of  men  and  material;  thenceforth, 
the  only  question  was  how  much  of  men  and  of  means  was 
it  necessary  to  expend  in  order  to  accomplish  his  object. 

General  Lee  was  now  strictly  on  the  defensive,  though  by 
no  means  waiting  to  be  attacked.  Grant  discarded  maneu- 
vers; he  pushed  his  columns  forward;  thwarted,  checked, 
repulsed,  he  simply  deflected  towards  the  left,  and  staggered 
on.,  and  was  met  again  and  attacked  with  the  same  result. 

Driven  back  at  the  Wilderness;  foiled  at  Spottsylvania 
with  enormous  losses;  at  Second  Cold  Harbor  12,000  men 
were  sacrificed  in  an  hour  with  comparatively  small  loss 
inflicted  on  the  Confederates ;  in  one  hour  he  lost  more  lives 
than  were  expended  on  both  sides  in  the  wars  with  Mexico 
and  Spain,  in  an  attack  where  Grant  urged  forward  the 
Union  army  until  its  brave  commanders  ref  1 3>ed  to  lead  them 
to  certain  destruction. 

No  slaughter  like  this  is  chronicled  in  modern  warfare ; 
not  even  in  the  same  space  of  time  in  the  Russo-Japanese 
War,  and  yet  their  silent  leader,  cool  and  imperturbable  as 
fate,  just  deflected  to  the  left. 

General  Lee  was  hindered  from  striking  him  another  blow 
before  he  had  recovered  from  Cold  Harbor,  by  the  advance 
of  Hunter  in  the  Valley  and  the  necessity  of  detaching 
Breckinridge  and  Early  to  meet  him. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  effect  of  this  fearful  series  of 
battles  from  May  4,  1864,  when  Grant  crossed  the  Rapidan 
to  get  between  Lee  and  Richmond,  141,000  against  50,000 
with  which  Lee  grappled  him  at  every  turn,  was  to  put  him 
at  last,  crippled  and  bleeding,  to  the  cover  of  tlie  James  and 
Appomattox  rivers  where  he  was  enabled  to  recruit  and 
renew  his  strength  for  another  effort;  and  this  place  he 
might  have  reached  without  the  firing  of  a  gun  by  taking  his 
.  army  around  and  up  James  River  in  transports. 


[  18  ] 

Then  came  the  nine  months'  siege  of  Petersburg;  Grant 
having  never  less  than  150,000  men,  while  Lee  with  never 
more  than  35,000  held  his  long  line  of  35  miles,  kept  open 
his  lines  of  transportation,  met  mine  with  countermine,  attack 
with  repulse,  filled  up  the  crater  with  the  enemy,  made  the 
final  assault  upon  Fort  Stedman;  endured  smnmer's  heat 
and  winter's  cold,  hunger  and  thirst  and  nakedness  and 
everything  hut  despmn,  and  at  last,  his  supplies  cut  off, 
armies  coming  from  every  direction,  he  marched  out  into 
the  open  and  made  a  six  days'  fight,  by  day  and  by  night, 
marching  and  fighting,  and  fighting  and  marching,  until 
from  sheer  exhaustion  he  came  to  the  end  at  Appomattox. 
You  may  have  a  vivid  idea  of  these  last  days  of  the  army 
in  the  accounts  of  it  by  General  Bryan  Grimes,  and  Judge 
W.  A.  Montgomery,  in  Clark's  History  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Regiments,  Vol,  5.  What  a  soldier  he  was  and  what 
an  army  he  had  that  he  drew  such  eulogy  from  the  present 
President  of  the  United  States.  "The  world  has  never  seen 
better  soldiers  than  those  who  followed  Lee,  and  their  leader 
will  undoubtedly  rank  as  without  any  exception  the  very 
greatest  of  all  the  great  captains  that  the  English-speaking 
people  have  brought  forth,  and  this,  although  the  last  and 
chiefest  of  his  antagonists,  may  himself  claim  place  as  the 
full  equal  of  Marlborough  and  Wellington." 

Of  the  many  accounts  of  the  surrender,  which  do  not 
materially  disagree,  I  recommend  you  to  read  on  the  one 
side  that  of  our  friend,  Rev.  John  William  Jones,  D.  D., 
the  friend  and  follower  of  Lee  from  first  to  last,  and  on  the 
other,  an  article  written  by  General  Horace  Porter,  in  a  late 
number  of  the  Outlook,  which  in  plain,  narrative  style  tells 
the  story. 

We  are  struck  through  it  all  Avith  the  greatness  of  the  man 
who  on  that  momentous  occasion  evoked  such  exquisite 
courtesy  from  his  captors.  We  can  never  forget  the  instant 
order  from  General  Grant  to  cease  firing  of  salutes  of  joy  at 


[  19  ] 

the  surrender.  Still  less  can  we  forget  in  all  the  political 
excitement  of  later  days,  how  quickly  he  interposed  when  a 
suggestion  was  made  by  some  of  the  civil  authorities  to  dis- 
regard tlie  parols  of  the  great  Commander  and  some  of  his 
officers. 

What  further  sihall  we  say  ?  Is  it  not  enough  that  we  have 
furled  the  banuer  forever,  buried  the  dead  hope  and  gone 
about  the  streets? 

When  his  part  in  the  surrender  was  done,  and  he  turned 
to  pass  through  the  ranks  of  those  who  had  followed  him  to 
the  end ;  not  even  a  citizen,  only  a  soldier  on  his  parol. 

When  his  men  crowded  around  bim  and  touched  his  hand, 
with  tbat  most  fearful  expression  of  grief,  the  sobs  of  strong 
men  in  agony,  and  with  voice  broken  for  the  first  time 
through  it  all,  he  said :  ''Men,  we  have  fought  through  the 
war  together ;  I  have  done  my  best  for  you ;  my  heart  is  too 
full  to  say  more,"  we  mig'ht  feel  that  even  yet  the  great  glory 
of  the  day  belongs  to  the  vanquished  with  his  8,000  immor- 
tals rather  than  to  the  innumerable  hosts  that  compassed 
them  about  on  every  side. 

There  is  one  more  page  to  unfold  the  greater  height  to 
whicb  he  yet  could  reach. 

"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  light  shall 
not  be  clear  nor  dark.  But  it  shall  be  one  day  which  shall 
be  known  to  the  Lord,  not  day  nor  night,  but  it  shall  come*  to 
pass  that  at  the  evening  it  ^hall  be  light." 

When  old  Traveller  turned  away  from  Appomattox  bear- 
ing upon  his  back  the  embattled  veteran  with  the  sheathed 
sword,  his  footsteps  led  lienceforward  in  the  paths  of  peace. 

What  were  the  blandishments  of  wealth,  the  showering 
offers  of  ease  and  comfort,  for  the  use  of  his  name.  He  had 
left  him  but  his  name  and  "that  name  was  not  for  sale." 

And  what,  a  little  later,  when  his  disabilities  had  been 
removed  and  his  citizenship  restored,  was  the  offer,  the 
least  they  could  make  to  him,  of  the  highest  civic  honors  of 
his  State? 


[  20  ] 

He  had  heard,  within,  the  "still  small  voice"  which  told 
him  of  his  mission.  The  path  of  duty  was  still  before  him 
and  it  led  him  to  the  quiet  retirement  of  the  town  of  Lexing- 
ton, up  in  the  hills. 

I  love  to  believe  tiliat  the  acceptance  of  the  presidency  of 
Washington  College  was  the  first  clear  call  to  his  people  to 
take  heart  for  the  future ;  to  provide  the  youth  of  the  stricken 
land  with  new  weapons  more  potent  than  the  sword.  The 
five  years  of  his  sojourn  there,  before  he  went  to  dwell  among 
the  Gods,  might  be  compared  to  that  long  period  on  the  Con- 
tinent, from  Alaric  to  Luther,  in  which  thick  darkness 
settled  on  the  face  of  the  deep. 

But,  as  in  the  old  Monasteries  where  history  was  preserved 
and  letters  cultivated  and  religion  kept  alive  "Amid  the 
encircling  gloom,"  so  at  Washington  College  and  the  few 
other  institutions  of  the  kind  in  the  South  the  little  spark 
was  kept  alive  upon  the  altars  until  in  the  providence  of  God 
the  great  awakening  came. 

I  love  to  think  that  in  1874-5  in  this  hall,  when,  after 
days  and  weeks  of  struggle,  at  times  almost  without  hope,  at 
last  the  vote  was  taken,  the  defiant  call  for  the  yeas  and  nays 
came  from  the  promoters  of  the  bill,  and  on  its  third  and 
final  reading  the  old  University  of  North  Carolina,  the  child 
of  the  Constitution  of  1776,  was  set  upon  its  feet  and  the 
ingenuous  youth  of  the  State  called  -to  their  place,  it  was  the 
example  of  Eobert  Lee  away  up  in  the  village  among  the 
hills  that  inspired  the  hope  and  nerved  the  effort  of  the 
small  band  that  plucked  victory  out  of  defeat  and  brought 
again  the  beginnings  of  salvation  to  the  people.  !N"ot  only 
to  the  University,  but  from  the  same  source  came  the  inspira- 
tion which  opened  all  the  institutions  of  learning  in  the 
State  until  they  stand  upon  such  fair  foundations,  with 
enough  for  each  to  do  in  the  great  work  of  educating  the 
people. 

I  love  to  believe  that  it  was  this  quiet  life  up  in  the  Vir- 


[  21  ] 

ginia  hills  that  roused  the  heart  and  touched  the  tongue  of 
the  young  educational  Governor  of  North  Carolina  to  call 
.  the  people  to  their  duty. 

That  may  be  traced  to  this  same  source  the  spirit  which 
sent  out  among  the  people  of  ISTorth  Carolina  those  two 
young  apostles  to  fan  the  flame  until  the  one  had  paid  back 
to  the  Mothers  of  the  Confederacy  thg  debt  we  owed,  and 
offered  equal  education  to  their  daughters  with  their  sons; 
and  who,  in  the  climax  of  his  work,  found  his  apotheosis. 
May  the  light  of  Giod  shine  upon  him,  and  from  his  place  of 
eternal  rest,  may  he  see  the  continual  fruition  of  the  tree  of 
knowledge  that  he  planted  near  the  Guilford  battleground. 
I  love  to  believe  that  it  was  the  same  spirit  that  animated 
his  co-apostle  to  forward  the  work  of  higher  education  here 
and  elsewhere  until  he  repaid  for  us  to  the  memory  of  Gen- 
eral Lee  the  debt  w^e  owed  him  for  his  good  example,  by 
restoring  to  the  University  of  Virginia,  the  creation  of  Jef- 
ferson, the  place  it  was  intended  to  fill  for  the  youth  of  Vir- 
ginia and  of  the  country. 

I  love  to  believe  that  from  the  same  source  comes  the  spirit 
of  those  I  see  around  me  to  will  and  to  do  that  which  is  fit- 
ting to  be  done  for  education,  and  in  all  other  ways  for 
the  public  welfare. 

And,  so  it  is,  that  we  are  here,  because  the  United  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Confederacy,  in  no  spirit  of  the  revival  of  mem- 
ories of  ancient  feuds,  accepting  the  prosperity  which  the 
gracious  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  Lord  of  Hosts  has 
sent  us  at  last,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  Lee  and  Jackson 
and  Stuart  and  Hill  and  all  the  Christian  heroes  of  the  war, 
answered  so  differently  from  what  they  and  we  expected, 
have  bid  us  come. 

And  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  at  its  session  of 
1891,  enacted  that  this  day,  "the  19th  day  of  January  in  each 
and  every  year,  shall  be  kept  by  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina as  a  public  holiday  in  honor  of  the  peerless  Lee." 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032758873 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


